Day 5: Journey home...

We left Jacksonville in the morning and headed out to the obligatory breakfast at Cracker Barrel followed by a visit to the J&P cycles in Daytona ...

I think we were the first customers there... we had the entire store to ourselves! We were like kids in a candy shop.This is a Honda VTX dressed up for a cover shot.
..and a Kawasaki 1600 Classic
The line of bikes in the middle of the picture was a time line of motorcycles through time.

We decided to head home after some early birthday gift shopping and some damage to the bank account. The ride home was uneventful, the weather cooperated for the most part and we got home safe and in one piece around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Total miles for the trip: 1500 and change
Highest gas prices seen $4.23 in Daytona - $4.04 in the Suches area

Lessons learned:

• Sun block, sun block and more sun block, anything lower than 70 spf is a joke in "Hotlanta"
  
• Take half as much clothes as you think you need and double the amount of long sleeve shirts. It gets chilly in the morning and at night up in the mountains.
• Learn to identify the smell of burning rubber on the highway, it means someones tire is about to blow. Get out of the way! People please check your tires when you are on the road whether in a car or motorcycle, it's not pretty when they tear apart at 70 mph.
  
• Take cash in case the local smaller stations don't take debit, or in case the bank puts a hold on your account because you've been gassing up everywhere between Tennessee and S. Florida.
• J&P Cycles has REALLY good sales after a holiday weekend.
• Oh I almost forgot, "BYOB" most of the counties up there are DRY counties...

Day 4: Time to leave paradise.

big sigh....... It was time to go. We woke up and strolled downstairs for the breakfast we had accustomed to: home made pancakes, eggs, spicy sausage and coffee!!! Everything here tastes so different. Everything is fresh and full of flavor. The waitress mentioned that everything they buy is from local farms and it makes such a huge difference.

We packed everything up and loaded up the bikes... I didn't want to leave the place that I almost didn't stay at because it had no A/C. What a spoiled brat I thought to myself... city slicker girl had no A/C and it was such a big deal at first. I was so blinded by what really matters up there. These people were so welcoming and genuinely nice, it's such a different pace from what I was used to at first, but after settling in it felt like home. I literally took the time to breath the fresh air and smell the flowers (as you can see by my garden pictures) and it was heaven. It wasn't what my trip was about at first, I just wanted to scare the crap out of myself ridding my self silly on the twisties (and I did...lol) , but it turned out to be something a bit more special and meaningful. It turned out to be about the simple things in life and how we tend to forget about them in our day to day rushed lives.

Evidence of last night's late night round table B.S. session. Suches is in a dry county, but you can BYOB and some did indeed...Kentucky Whiskey nonetheless!

One last portrait of the bikes....


One last look at paradise...

We began our decent onto the main highway and headed for Jacksonville. The weather was great up until we got the Jacksonville. We were greeted by chilly temps (at least for a S. Floridian) and some rain.

Day 3: Checking out T.W.O.

These two riders rolled in while we were sitting outside. They were taking a short break between runs, T.W.O seems to be a popular biker rest stop. They were fully geared up from head to toe and they meant business on the road. For some reason the owner loves frogs, they were all over the place. Luckily thery were all fake!
Posted office hours. They tend to beat to a diffrent drum around here...
This sweet little Harley came ripping it up down the road. She sounded beautiful! The sound of the pipes echoed through the mountain roads, you can hear it coming a mile away.
Another little creek in the area.
We found this path along the road... it ended up being someones driveway! No shot guns were fired, although I was ready to run for cover.

At least I got closer to the waterfall...
and the lake behind the waterfall. It's almost like every turn we took has a beautiful view!
Rick found something curious back at the creek...
These signs are common around these areas, however this one was in the creek?
Apparently someone decided to clean thier bike in the creek... That black piece in the middle of the picture is a gas tank, the brush had covered the rest of the bike. You gotta be careful in this neck of the woods! I was actually happy in the picture althougn I look upset. Rick just took forever to take the pic...lol

Buttram? Must be a local thing...
60 was the road T.W.O is on. 180 is Wolf Pen Gap...
" Happy 4th of July.... Cloggin, and the Big Duck Race" These people know how to celebrate! A sign at the entrance to Wolf Pen Gap...
That's all for tonight folks. Tomorrow we head back to Jacksonville...

Day 3: Slayed Blood Mountain!

These are some Blood Mountain twisties... the second one pic was my favorite one...


Twisted slightly to the left first then right and then a BIG DIP and back up and left again.! WOOOOHOOOO

We had a great night sleep and woke up to the sound of rain. We thought for sure the day was doomed, but shortly after breakfast the skies cleared up. There was a couple here from S. Carolina that was heading out at the same time as us and asked us if we wanted to ride, so we tagged along. My main concern from all the rain the night prior was wet roads but by the time we got out there it was just perfect.

We made a left out of T.W.O. and took Wolf Pen Gap road North. This was an awesome start to the day. Nice long twisting roads, very relaxed. The road was surrounded by gorgeous scenery. Beautiful mountain side dotted by red barns and cow/horse pastures. We took Wolf Pen Gap for about 13 miles and then the real fun began...

Right at the end of Wolf Pen Gap is Blood Mountain, know to be Georgia's Dragon. The closer we get the more evident that this was going to be an interesting one. The road was all of the sudden flanked on both sides by trees as tall as the eye can take you and the morning dew was slowly rising off the road, almost looked like smoke... hence why they call it the Smokey Mountains. It seemed erie to a certain point. Then come the signs "Steep turns and elevation changes" Oh yeah baby... I was ready for it today!

So we continue and sure enough the twist and turns start to get tighter and tighter and drastically changing in elevation. At certain points the road it self was slanting at a 45 degree angle, combine that with a tight turn and you've got your self a party!...lol. It was constant, one turn after another, you haven't completed a turn and you have to set your self up for the next.

Once we got to the end of Blood Mountain we headed east towards Helen, Ga. This was another set of gorgeous sweeping roads. Helen, GA is a little German town in the mountains and it was packed! We parked the bikes and headed out on foot. I had left the camera behind so these pictures are from a disposable one... better than nothing.

I like this picture in particular... traditional horse meet modern day iron horse
Wouldn't you know he would find the first candy shop in town...
I guess I was not too far behind.This is the famous Chattahoochee river, it flows right through town. During the summer you can tube down the river.
I'm assuming these bikers just finished "Slaying the Dragon" up in N.C. Can you imagine riding through town with that on the back? lol
This was the typical architecture in Helen, beautiful German themed hotels, shops and restaurants.

You can barely see it, but notice the antique gas pump on the other side of the bikes...
This was a neat little country shop in town that had some local specialties such as peach salsa and other treats... It was packed!
It was a popular day to be in Helen, the line of traffic was back up for miles. Luckily was got there right before it got really bad.
More beautiful buildings ...



After visiting Helen we noticed some dark clouds starting to roll in again so we hightailed it back to T.W.O. We took 19 to 60, as we did yesterday, but today I was more confident on the road and maybe even a little cocky towards the end. I found a sweet spot in third gear and mastered almost all the turns without hitting the brakes. It was euphoria...

I had some time to really check out T.W.O. today. I know that I was not very impressed when I got here, but I just needed to get to know it better. This place has character, welcoming people and some of the best darn food around.

My VTX in front of the garden...
The garden was rustic but beautiful...it was filled with butterflies, humming birds and HUGE honey bees. I know it's kind of fru fru for a biker joint, but relaxing none the less...
This rustic little bridge connected the main area to part of the tent camping site...

The garden was littered with all types of interesting pieces such as this old axle off of old farming equipment.
This was one of many humming bird feeders in the garden. I tried to catch him in a pic a couple of times but the little bastard was too quick.
This is one of my favorite pics... it's was in a bird fountain and the rock reads "tranquility"

A motorcycle wind chime that hasn't seen much wind by the looks of the cobwebs on it.
A little piece for meditation. There is something for everyone here.
These are the rules folks...#7 is an interesting rule. I guess they've seen a rowdy crowd or two.
This was a huge mural in front of T.W.O. a tribute to Wolf Pen Road...